SAO PAULO – Brazilian exports to the United States fell 42.2 percent in 2009, a senior official said Tuesday.

The secretary of the Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry, Welber Barral, acknowledged the drop in sales to the U.S. but stressed that total trade between the two countries was $35.9 billion last year, down 32.7 percent from 2008.

“We have to take action to win back the U.S. market. We export a lot of manufactured goods there and we’re only going to recover our industrial exports if we get back our sales to important markets like the United States and Latin America,” Barral said.